Artificial light and male fertility

[Mike Gilbert]

Sharon, you are doing it right.    It is just regular oatmeal, the kind you make for breakfast.   It has bigger flakes and smaller particles, and they love to pick at it and break it up.   I have not been trying to make it finer, but it sure couldn't hurt.

[Sharon Yorks]

The 1-minute oatmeal is much softer, smaller, and breaks up easier. I accidentally bought the regular once and didn't like it as well, but since I eat a lot of it myself, I ate the regular and bought the chicks the other. Try it sometime. I bet you will like it better, at least for the chicks.

[Beth C]

What temps do you consider cold in your area?

Very moderate compared to you guys, but I think it was the sudden shift. We were having 60s & 70s with a few days in the 80s, unseasonably warm even for here. I have a picture of Walker running around in shorts with a water gun about mid January. There was even an ice cream truck patrolling the cul-de-sac camp behind us. Then temps abruptly dropped by 30 degrees with nights going below freezing.

[Mike Gilbert]

It has been at least a week since we got up to freezing here, and several days in a row when it did not rise above zero.    I'm running a little heater in the coop just enough to keep the hydrant from freezing up again, and the birds are laying quite well, especially the large fowl.   I only have ten LF females, and nine are laying.  The other is three years old and molted late.   

Sharon, I looked at our oatmeal container, and it is the one minute variety.  My wife does all the shopping here, so I never really paid any attention to it.

[Beth C]

Yeah, I was afraid I might get shot for posting those temps. I don't think it was the temps themselves, I think it was the sudden shift from summer-like temps to fall-like temps. Or the fact that I gave away all of my surplus eggs the day before...

[Beth C]

Saw this today, thought of you, Mike: